Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Waterman and Ramiccio head to runoff in Lake Worth mayor's race
From the "paper of record" - discuss...
Turnout light as Lake Worth elects a mayor
Mr. Howard's take on today's activities. Click title for link.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Lauderdale Lakes fiscal disaster holds lessons for others
Click title for link.
BOTTOM LINE: Other cities need to consider consolidation, expanding regional cooperation.
Winner of Lake Worth's special election will earn four-month term as mayor
Summary of backgrounds and positions by our "paper of record." Fun to read the comments. Click title for link.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Advice to the city-at-large...
"You cannot get sick enough to help sick people get better. You cannot get poor enough to help poor people thrive. It is only in your thriving that you have anything to offer anyone. If you're wanting to be of an advantage to others, be as tapped in, turned in, turned on as you can possibly be." - Abraham-Hicks
Following up on a suggestion made by Greg Rice...
I listened to the later portions of last Tuesday's (6/21) City Commission meeting. What he referred to in a comment on this blog was the discussion on the city's legal matters (aka lawsuits) - specifically the mounting legal fees and the apparent legal morass in the City Attorney's department. The discussion surrounded Item 11. G under new business and the segued (intended :) into the City Attorney's report.
It really is worth a listen on the archive City Commission audio. Click the title of this post and it will take you to the recording of last Tuesday's meeting. Click on the right side of the screen where the indicator shows the playback's progress. Go to the 3:56:40 mark. To hear the whole discussion, you'll have to go to 4:23:16. If you go farther, you will get into the City Manager's report where she laments about having to deal with other agencies (like fire rescue and PBSO) contractually rather than operationally to control costs. She still seems to have trouble with the concept.
Anyway, back to the lawsuit matter, Item 11.G just concerned the approval of $85,000 of legal fees for one law firm for the defense of claims related to rather pedestrian legal challenges. This amount is over and above the $15,000 amount that the staff can approve and below the $100,000 amount that the city's insurance kicks in. This item ended up being approved with little fanfare, but led to a larger discussion on the status of all the lawsuits being faced by the city. There was a mention of a total of 159 cases in the system. The City Attorney says that "our department is struggling" to keep up with the bills. It seems to be a very complicated process to appropriate various funds from legal fee line items in various enterprise fund budgets, etc. The City Manager says that the city may have to hire more "in house" attorneys to handle the load. She mentioned that the total bill to defend the city in the Greater Bay lawsuit will run over $600,000 - there is a similar amount related to the FMPA challenge about the city leaving that contract. According to the City Attorney, the Greater Bay lawsuit is going to trial in November.
Remember, the legal fees are absent any eventual judgments that may be levied against the city.
Commissioner Golden made the absurd distinction that these legal costs result from actions to defend the city, not legal actions that the city initiated. It's absurd since many of them are due the cumulative actions of the Commissions on which she has served!
They asked for quarterly reports on fees according to each case that will be put on a spreadsheet. Apparently, there is a summer intern working on that now - it sounded like a MAJOR task. We only have this intern for another month.
When listening, you may want to have some smelling salts and Kleenex handy...
Anyway, back to the lawsuit matter, Item 11.G just concerned the approval of $85,000 of legal fees for one law firm for the defense of claims related to rather pedestrian legal challenges. This amount is over and above the $15,000 amount that the staff can approve and below the $100,000 amount that the city's insurance kicks in. This item ended up being approved with little fanfare, but led to a larger discussion on the status of all the lawsuits being faced by the city. There was a mention of a total of 159 cases in the system. The City Attorney says that "our department is struggling" to keep up with the bills. It seems to be a very complicated process to appropriate various funds from legal fee line items in various enterprise fund budgets, etc. The City Manager says that the city may have to hire more "in house" attorneys to handle the load. She mentioned that the total bill to defend the city in the Greater Bay lawsuit will run over $600,000 - there is a similar amount related to the FMPA challenge about the city leaving that contract. According to the City Attorney, the Greater Bay lawsuit is going to trial in November.
Remember, the legal fees are absent any eventual judgments that may be levied against the city.
Commissioner Golden made the absurd distinction that these legal costs result from actions to defend the city, not legal actions that the city initiated. It's absurd since many of them are due the cumulative actions of the Commissions on which she has served!
They asked for quarterly reports on fees according to each case that will be put on a spreadsheet. Apparently, there is a summer intern working on that now - it sounded like a MAJOR task. We only have this intern for another month.
When listening, you may want to have some smelling salts and Kleenex handy...
Why I am voting for Lisa Maxwell...
Lisa Mawell is the best choice to make on Tuesday - especially at this point in our city's history. We just had a Mayor leave the city before the end of his term - which spawned the need for the special election on June 28th. Lisa has lived here a while and shown a deep commitment to the Lake Worth community. She served for years on the Planning, Zoning and Historic Preservation Board - during the time that I was on the board. She could always be counted on for thoughtful and knowledgeable discussion, leading to a reasonable decision. We didn't always see things the same way and voted differently on some matters, but that is what you want on a deliberative body. Debate and independent thought should be encouraged. Facts are things to respect. Lisa knows these things.
That's the problem with the political troika we have now on the dais between Mulvehill, Golden and McVoy. We can count on these dais-mates for pre-cooked decisions directed by mysterious hands from beyond the dais. This "hand" does not necessarily reflect public opinion. We saw that play out during the PBSO debacle. When these three plus the city manager realized the extent of support for keeping PBSO and the fear of creating our own police department, the retreat was on and they suddenly became the ones that saved PBSO. Enough of these types of games, please. We're seeing something similar to that now by not acknowledging the demolition of the Casino building.
This sort of "stickiness" on the dais is frightening, especially when you have a city administration that seems to be challenged by the truth. The troika's support of Rachel Waterman is disturbing too. Commissioner Jo-Ann Golden - whose family is associated with Golden paints - unleashes family money from New York to assist in Ms. Waterman's campaign. It seems that these three have created their own special interest group and they would like to preserve that. They do not want outside influences or the possibility of any of their pre-determined decisions to be questioned - or heaven forbid, that any of their secrets get exposed by pointed questions by someone "out of the fold."
We have had a lot wild fires in Florida and across the nation this year. When these wildfires get so intense, they create their own weather systems. This is like the current symbiotic frenzy on the dais and has the same harmful, uncontrollable possibilities. Rachel's addition would add another log on the fire - something we don't need.
I appreciated Lisa Maxwell's refusal to participate in the charade that has become of the Palm Beach Post endorsement. The Palm Beach Post announced Ms. Waterman's return to Lake Worth in a fluff piece published in February. That should have given everyone a warning of what was to come. The troika's relationship with the Palm Beach Post is another symptom of the insular nature of politics here. The Post's endorsement was in the bag in February or before - going to the Post's editorial board to kiss the ring would be waste of time. I just hope Lisa used the time that would have been taken to secure a dozen or so more votes. Let's hope she did.
Ms. Waterman, during the candidate forums, acted more like she was applying for a job on the staff of the city instead of a Mayoral, leadership position. She made it seem like the Mayor's job involves writing grants and making sure consultant reports were short and to the point. Her involvement with the Census and Annabeth Karson is shrouded in mystery as well.
The only thing that I can say about Tom Ramiccio is that he has had his time in a leadership role(s) in the city and it is time for a new approach to how things are done here. javier del sol has referred to me as a "Pilgrim" and an "economic criminal", so he is not getting my vote.
Vote for Lisa Maxwell on Tuesday!
That's the problem with the political troika we have now on the dais between Mulvehill, Golden and McVoy. We can count on these dais-mates for pre-cooked decisions directed by mysterious hands from beyond the dais. This "hand" does not necessarily reflect public opinion. We saw that play out during the PBSO debacle. When these three plus the city manager realized the extent of support for keeping PBSO and the fear of creating our own police department, the retreat was on and they suddenly became the ones that saved PBSO. Enough of these types of games, please. We're seeing something similar to that now by not acknowledging the demolition of the Casino building.
This sort of "stickiness" on the dais is frightening, especially when you have a city administration that seems to be challenged by the truth. The troika's support of Rachel Waterman is disturbing too. Commissioner Jo-Ann Golden - whose family is associated with Golden paints - unleashes family money from New York to assist in Ms. Waterman's campaign. It seems that these three have created their own special interest group and they would like to preserve that. They do not want outside influences or the possibility of any of their pre-determined decisions to be questioned - or heaven forbid, that any of their secrets get exposed by pointed questions by someone "out of the fold."
We have had a lot wild fires in Florida and across the nation this year. When these wildfires get so intense, they create their own weather systems. This is like the current symbiotic frenzy on the dais and has the same harmful, uncontrollable possibilities. Rachel's addition would add another log on the fire - something we don't need.
I appreciated Lisa Maxwell's refusal to participate in the charade that has become of the Palm Beach Post endorsement. The Palm Beach Post announced Ms. Waterman's return to Lake Worth in a fluff piece published in February. That should have given everyone a warning of what was to come. The troika's relationship with the Palm Beach Post is another symptom of the insular nature of politics here. The Post's endorsement was in the bag in February or before - going to the Post's editorial board to kiss the ring would be waste of time. I just hope Lisa used the time that would have been taken to secure a dozen or so more votes. Let's hope she did.
Ms. Waterman, during the candidate forums, acted more like she was applying for a job on the staff of the city instead of a Mayoral, leadership position. She made it seem like the Mayor's job involves writing grants and making sure consultant reports were short and to the point. Her involvement with the Census and Annabeth Karson is shrouded in mystery as well.
The only thing that I can say about Tom Ramiccio is that he has had his time in a leadership role(s) in the city and it is time for a new approach to how things are done here. javier del sol has referred to me as a "Pilgrim" and an "economic criminal", so he is not getting my vote.
Vote for Lisa Maxwell on Tuesday!
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